Liliensternus

Phylogeny: Dinosauria > Saurischia > Theropoda > Neotheropoda > Coelophysoidea (?)

Overview: Measuring more than five meters in length, Liliensternus was among the largest known theropods from the Late Triassic. It was comparable in size to some Early Jurassic theropods like Dilophosaurus and Cryolophosaurus. Similar to such dinosaurs, Liliensternus was quite lightly built, however. Theropods started out as small, slender animals, often living in the shadow of far larger, non-dinosaurian predators. It seems that greater body length proceeded comparable bulk. Still, we can assume that Liliensternus was one of the top predators of its own environment. It’s known to have lived in the same general time and region as the famous “prosauropod” Plateosaurus, which was likely a source of prey for this animal. Fully grown Plateosaurus were probably fairly tough to kill, often being larger than Liliensternus and equipped with enormous claws. Fossils of both can be found within the rocks of Germany’s Trossingen Formation.

Liliensternus was first described as a distinct genus in 1984. Its generic name was chosen in honor of the German nobleman, Count Hugo Rühle von Lilienstern, who first collected the fossils back in the 1930’s. Lilienstern was an amateur paleontologist, often housing and displaying specimens within his own castle, in what is today the German state of Thuringia. Originally, the bones were thought to belong to a genus called Halticosaurus, which is nowadays usually seen as a dubious taxon. The features on the known fossils of Liliensternus set it apart and are diagnostic, so it itself is valid as a taxon. With its fairly long neck and narrow-snouted skull, Liliensternus was similar to Coelophysis from North America, albeit much larger. Some classify it close to Coelophysis, placing it within the same coelophysoid superfamily. Others classify Liliensternus as a more derived neotheropod, closer to Dilophosaurus. Similar to Dilophosaurus, it may’ve possessed a pair of crests along its snout.